Surprise! Pesticides Kill Bees, Cause Cancer

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed in a Jan. 4 memorandum what many have long suspected: neonicotinoid pesticides kill bees.

Since 2006, honeybees in the U.S. have been dying off in record numbers. Last year alone, domestic beekeepers estimate a loss of 40 percent of their colonies. The phenomenon, dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder, has been blamed on mites, fungi and even global warming. But now the evidence is in: neonicotinoids wreak havoc on bees.

The study is the first of its kind in the U.S., in that the focus is strictly on the use of these common insecticides used on food crops like citrus and corn and their effects on bee populations. Whether sprayed on crops or coated on seeds, these poisons work their way into the bees’ central nervous system, causing paralysis and death.

“Unlike pesticides used as sprays or granular applications, those used as seed coatings carry no restrictions or mandatory safety measures when farmers and others handle them. It’s a critical oversight because the vast majority of neonicotinoids are used in that format,” said Center for Food Safety attorney Peter Jenkins.

Because humans only seem to attach importance to things based on their relevance to ourselves, without bees, we would no longer be able to grow alfalfa, almonds, apples, beans, berries, broccoli, cabbages, cantaloupes, cauliflower, citrus, eggplants, grapes, peaches, pears, peppers, tomatoes and watermelons.

The EPA is currently accepting public comment on their findings; at the end of the year, the agency is expected to make a ruling on whether or not, or under which conditions, specific neonicotinoids should continue being used in the agricultural industry.

5 COMMENTS

I think it is so sad that these large companies know what their pesticides and other chemicals are doing to our world ,
THEY ARE SLOWLY KILLING EVERY LIVING THING ON EARTH .
We only buy seeds to grow in our garden how do we know if those seeds are not genetically modified.

This is so sad! Bees are very important to the natural ecosystem. We need bees to live on our planet, rather than to go extinct which is exactly what we’re doing to them at the moment as our population grows and grows, as if there isn’t enough of us, more and more of their flowers and the land in which is needed to grow the plants disappear, due to housing which is one of the main problems. Especially the houses with no garden I would say. And it doesn’t help that we use pesticides either.